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In this example is the basic value proposition of Essentialism: only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.
The way of the Essentialist is the relentless pursuit of less but better.
Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.
the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the nonessentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage.
If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.
“the paradox of success,”
the pursuit of success can be a catalyst for failure.
falling into “the undisciplined pursuit of more” was a key reason for failure. This is true for companies and it is true for the people who work in them.
As Peter Drucker said, “In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time—literally—substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.”
Today, technology has lowered the barrier for others to share their opinion about what we should be focusing on. It is not just information overload; it is opinion overload.
We can either make our choices deliberately or allow other people’s agendas to control our lives.
studies have found that we tend to value things we already own more highly than they are worth and thus that we find them more difficult to get rid of.
It’s about learning how to do less but better so you can achieve the highest possible return on every precious moment of your life.
ESSENCE: WHAT IS THE CORE MIND-SET OF AN ESSENTIALIST?
Individual choice: We can choose how to spend our energy and time.
The prevalence of noise: Almost everything is noise, and a very few things are exceptionally valuable.
The reality of trade-offs: We can’t have it all or do it all.
The real question is not how can we do it all, it is who will get to choose what we do and don’t do.
As poet Mary Oliver wrote: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?”
Essentialism is not a way to do one more thing; it is a different way of doing everything.
Options (things) can be taken away, while our core ability to choose (free will) cannot be.
The ability to choose cannot be taken away or even given away—it can only be forgotten.
To become an Essentialist requires a heightened awareness of our ability to choose.
William James once wrote, “My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.”
The overwhelming reality is: we live in a world where almost everything is worthless and a very few things are exceptionally valuable.
The reality is, saying yes to any opportunity by definition requires saying no to several others.
We can try to avoid the reality of trade-offs, but we can’t escape them.
By forcing us to weigh both options and strategically select the best one for us, we significantly increase our chance of achieving the outcome we want.
This is how I felt about our recent OKR conversation.
Instead of asking, “What do I have to give up?” they ask, “What do I want to go big on?”
Trade-offs are not something to be ignored or decried. They are something to be embraced and made deliberately, strategically, and thoughtfully.
To discern what is truly essential we need space to think, time to look and listen, permission to play, wisdom to sleep, and the discipline to apply highly selective criteria to the choices we make.
The purpose of the exploration is to discern the vital few from the trivial many.
In order to have focus we need to escape to focus.
